When it comes to choosing who to invite to a wedding, the bride and groom will usually make it known whether they want to have a child-free ceremony or not. And while you can ban kids from attending your wedding, it's fairly common to have people of all ages attend the events, especially if there are several children in the bride or groom's families.
But one woman has been left livid after her ex-boyfriend took their five-year-old son to his friend's wedding, as she believed it was an "unsafe environment" for a young boy to be around so many adults.
The boy's dad explained he had asked his friend for permission before bringing his son with him to the wedding, and insisted that all his mates were happy to see him, as they treat him like a nephew.
However, when the boy's mum saw pictures of the wedding on social media, she was "furious" with the man, as she claimed that it was wrong to take the youngster to a wedding where several people were drinking alcohol.
In a post on Reddit, the dad said: "I have a five-year-old son. My buddy Brent recently had his wedding, and I brought my son, Liam, with Brent and his wife's permission, of course.
"I share custody with my ex, and my boys all treat my son like their nephew. I take him with me to outings and they all help out with him as much as a group of friends can.
"I brought my son along and he seemed to have a good time. He always had someone watching him, I only had two glasses of wine, and he went to bed at an appropriate hour.
"My son was part of some of the wedding photos and they were posted on social media. Apparently, my ex saw them and is furious that my son was there when 'people were drinking and partying', [as she said he] was in an 'unsafe' environment.
"I think she might be overreacting but maybe I was out of line with bringing him to the wedding? I'm second-guessing myself now."
Commenters on the post were firmly on the dad's side, as while many understood why the mum would be concerned, they also pointed out that children regularly attend weddings and are perfectly safe.
One person said: "It sounds like your ex isn't trusting your judgement here. Sounds like a fun wedding, reasonably family-friendly and not a Saturday night frat party."
While another added: "You are allowed to bring a kid to a wedding unless told otherwise. Of course there is alcohol at a wedding. Are you not allowed to take your kid to a restaurant because they serve alcohol?"
And a third wrote: "No weddings I've ever been to have been what I'd call an unsafe environment for a kid. It does sound like a good bit of an overexaggerating."
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